John x Cortana
by Rachael Foley
Summary: The Rampant A.I. has been turned human... by none other than the Diadect. She can be together with John, not as machine and human. But as a regular couple, what trouble could come in their way, what skills does Cortana possess, now that she is human?
1. Chapter 1

"You're doing this, for the sake of Humanity!?" The Diadect shouted, he was furious at the A.I. Cortana's rampancy turned out to be the critical edge in this battle. "I'm NOT doing this for humanity!" Cortana retorted, as she and the others worked to subdue the evil forerunner. He smirked, he had one trick up his sleeve, even this rampant A.I. wouldn't have thought about.

The original Cortana, was on the bridge orchestrating the attack on the Diadect. She began to convulse and lurch over in pain, she was no longer becoming red and blue. Her glitches were turning skin color and the blue on her was fading, her howls of pain beginning to subside. She, Cortana the A.I. had turned... human!

Her outfit had changed, it was all black. Black combat boots, a black full bodied leather battle suit and a black laced corsette. Her hair, had remained the same and she retained her eye color, even her knowledge that she had obtained as being a smart A.I. rather than having years, she now had decades... decades with John!

John was injured, he crawled toward the explosive, which was key to defeating the Diadect. Cortana remembered him, she dashed over to John and fell to the floor, beside him. He activated the device, Cortana held onto his armor tight. It detonated, both braced themselves for the explosion, their oblivion. Which, never came. They opened their eyes, they were in somesort of shield.

"Cortana... what...?" Master Chief asked "John, he turned me human. I don't know if it was a ploy to kill me or not. But I feel... amazing! This shield.. it was made of my rampant clones I created, they wanted to save us." Cortana explained, as the energy barrier weakened slightly, smaller versions of the A.I. Cortana came out.

"Why did you save us?" Cortana asked her duplicates "You both, are needed. Thesides, you would know that. Wouldn't you?" The clone teased, Cortana felt a new sensation, her cheeks were heating up, she felt John's gaze upon her. For reasons she couldn't quite grasp, she didn't want John to see her this way. So she turned away.

"How did you do this?" John asked the Cortana miniature "I.. didn't. We.. did. There was just enough of us, to stop yours and her demise. We saved enough power to take you home, there's too much of us... down there. They stayed behind to ensure that the Diadect was subdued. Goodbye..." She called out, as she, the shield and the others disappeared.

Cortana was confused, she was in space and unprotected. Shouldn't she be dead? Or smothering with no air content, or at the very least frozen to death. She noticed, she was glowing, that ever familiar color that used to be hers. The blue that had once been her skin, it appeared some of the clones stayed with her, though it was fading.. fast. She and John had to hurry, or she'd die.

A ship was nearby, it extracted both John and Cortana from the vacuum of space. They were both met with the new commanding officer, whom gave his gratitude and talked to John alone, who went back to Cortana as soon as it was finished. "So, John anything new?" Cortana asked, since she was no longer in his helmet she couldn't find out what had happened unless John shared it with her willingly.

"Nothing of interest, Cortana." John gave his quick reply, he held her hand, pulling her along. Cortana felt the gazes of all those she and John passed on the bridge, they were going to remove his armor. Cortana kept her eyes on the floor as the pair walked, she didn't like their gazes on her and she was embarrassed. These new human sensations... were thrilling and exciting, yet strange and frightening.

They arrived at last, John's armor was removed and Cortana was amazed at the man whom stood before her, she'd never seen John without his armor. "Cortana?" John asked, he was well aware of his former A.I's staring "Nothing, John." She looked at the floor once more, not making eye contact with the Spartan whom stood less than a foot in front of her.

John cupped her chin in his hand, his icy blue eyes boring into hers he smiled at Cortana he would never let her go. He lost her too much already, with the Gravemind, almost on installation 04 with 343 guilty spark and on the halo ring they were using to obliterate the remnants of the flood. He knew when she was lying, she always had this way about her. When she was uncertain, he always knew. Even for an A.I.

"Cortana." John drew out her name, Cortana had no choice but to try what she'd wanted to do for so long, since she had turned to rampancy all those years ago. Staying aboard the dawn for 4 years, trying to strike up a conversation with John when to no avail, she could no longer speak to him due to cryogenic stasis. She leaned forward, on her tiptoes as she kissed John, Sierra 117, hero of earth. Spartan, demon, reclaimer, forerunner.

She didn't care of what title he was given to her, he was John. He was her everything, as a 'Smart A.I.' Cortana had the benefits of having emotions to begin with, not fully but enough. Such as her anger, when she yelled at the captain for him trying to defy her and John, when they were about to confront the Diadect which would have resulted in more deaths than imagine able.

She pulled back, she felt better. She poured all of her emotion into that one kiss; that she tried to convey every feeling she had for John into one simple gesture. She smiled back at John, he looked confused and he smiled back at Cortana, he and she walked hand in hand down the rest of the bridge getting even more looks, more of confusion. They saw John, the Spartan kiss.. Cortana the A.I. Now turned human...


	2. Chapter 2

Cortana and John had no time for romance, it was straight back to work. John was briefed on their mission, he came out after speaking to the new commander "John?" Cortana asked, blue eyes scanning him, his armour was impenetrable to her eyes.

"Cortana, it looks like trouble." John answered "What is it? Covenant? Forerunner's?" "Flood." her eyes widened "Flood? But.. we eliminated them on the Halo ring." "I know, but it appears one single spore was saved, and theirs a problem; they may have a new gravemind."

"New... gravemind? But how?" "It's only speculation, but it's what they have to go on. The flood are better coordinated and strategic than before." John and Cortana were getting weapons, John with an assault rifle and pistol, 2 hand grenades and some plasmas.

Cortana took dual wield machine pistols, and a few magazines putting them into her holsters on her new outfit, an assault rifle and a few grenades. "Ready, partner?" John asked "Always." Cortana grinned, John nodded and the two were off, with marines to try and salvage the city.

It had been overtaken with flood, civilian casualties were reaching critical levels, John and Cortana were the last hope; before like Voi this city would be neutralized. Cortana took her seat, the marines followed suit while John stood, holding on.

Everything was going smoothly, until.. "Everyone hold on!" the pilot called, she was trying to get it under control, they were crashing they had been shot by one of the gun turrets the facility possessed. They braced for impact, Cortana held on with all her might.

She closed her eyes will all her will, and.. the pod they were in crashed. She awoke to John, she heard a buzzing noise, she was unscathed but the ringing continued until she was fully alert. She heard banging on the pod, John held a finger over his mouth, to motion silence.

Cortana nodded, he opened the door and snapped the marine variant of flood's neck. Cortana and John were the only survivors, so many marine lives.. wasted. John shook his head, and walked out Cortana followed they maintained radio contact.

"Cortana, come in." "This is Cortana, I read you." "Proceed through the facility, disable the gun turrets and eliminate all hostiles. They are protecting their gravemind, trying to nurture it in that building, activate the self-destruct sequence." "Copy that, over and out."

Cortana and John ran, she was by the terminal, she touched it, and set out in her work, since she was no ordinary human, she could connect her mind with the facility through merely touching the terminal and use her skills as a former A.I.

The door opened, the lock disengaged and closed behind them. The building was in shambles, lights fell and dangled from the ceiling, dead flood lay on the floor, debris from battles, broken glass, walls... Cortana and John tried not to step on anything, there were flood nearby.

They heard that ever familiar sound of them crawling around, and running. Cortana crushed glass, and they heard it; the flood's cries and shouts as they closed in on them, spores, and higher up versions. John and Cortana were back to back, shooting off their assailants.

She heaved a sigh of relief, it was over with. Another spore came out, and jumped at her, Cortana had absorbed extensive combat training, and side stepped it, fan kicking the spore into a wall, where it smashed.

"Nice work." John complimented "Thanks, believe it or not, I had to fight that covenant A.I. Like this too. He fought me, but I won and dissected him." Cortana replied, John nodded, and the two progressed forward, they ran because the flood knew they were there and the purpose they had.

"Control rooms just up ahead!" Cortana exclaimed, they were 50 metres off, flood knocked John back, Cortana turned to go back "Go!" he ordered, she nodded and ran through sealing the door. She heard the gravemind and shuddered as his voice boomed through the building.

_'**Child of my enemy, why have you come? You tried to destroy me and my kind once before. You have brought her with you also. I will enjoy eating her, and allowing her to merge with me.' **_"I won't let you eat me." Cortana retorted as she set out in her work.

John was fighting off hordes of the zombified flood, Cortana worked on activating the self-destruct protocol, flood fell from the ceiling _**'I have questions, you shall answer.' **_Gravemind repeated what he'd said before, on High Charity.

"Shoot." Cortana grinned, as she'd once said before, one flood dashed at her, she flipped over him, and kicked him into the wall, snapping his neck. Two more came at her from both sides, she somersaulted backwards allowing them to collide, and stomped on their heads.

A big one came at her, she dodged his swipe and flip kicked his head off, two more were coming, with flood spores inside. She used her plasma's as she slid on the floor passed them, they tried running to her but exploded.

_**'You dare to defy me? Submit!' **_"Didn't work before, certainly won't now." Cortana answered, she worked once more on the terminal, bypassing firewalls and finding it; she executed the protocol, it left them with 15 minutes to evacuate the facility.

She opened the door, shooting her way past flood, she ran trying to get out the quick way, John was nowhere to be seen. Flood blocked the exit, she found a vent and crawled through, she found a way out and sealed the way behind her.

John had made it out, "Cortana." he called, she turned to him "John!" she ran and hugged him, "We need to get out of here, this place is going to make a big explosion." Cortana nodded "Command, this is Cortana. We need an evac, now."

"Copy that Cortana. On our way." A pelican came down, and picked them up, they had 15 seconds, and the pilot flew as fast as he could, the explosion was humongous, as they flew away, it rocked the air craft, the building detonated, leaving a crater.

They were successfully extracted "You saved alot of lives John, Cortana." the commander nodded, both saluted and nodded back they were cleaning up any left over flood, and containing the parasitic organism that plagued living beings.


	3. Chapter 3

"That was revenge, for High Charity." Cortana smiles "High Charity..." John remembers it well, she'd just started to turn rampant, due to the Gravemind and his picking through her files, him trying to merge with her and giving her more data.

He tried to overload her, and work her over. She wouldn't concede, no matter how hard he tried to seduce the A.I. The only thing that kept her going was John. She hadn't believed it to be him when he finally arrived, she'd heard his voice but thought she was being tricked.

"_I really am lucky." she'd said "No, I'm the lucky one. Remember?" John corrected her "Of course." _she'd smiled as he destroyed the barrier containing her, taking her with him out of the clutches of the Gravemind.

"Thank you, John." Cortana smiled "For what?" he asked "Always being there, and keeping your promise you made on High Charity." John chuckled "Of course, I would never break a promise I'd made to you Cortana. You're too important."

Cortana smiled, and held his armored hand, happy that he didn't pull his hand out of her grasp. People still stared at them, not quite being able to grasp that John the Spartan was with Cortana the A.I. It was completely incomprehensible to them.

John was lost in thought, of their adventures together. Almost losing her too many times, sure he'd gotten her back but this last one he'd almost completely lost her all together. He gave her hand a little squeeze, she didn't appear to mind.

His face was always hidden behind his visor, and the marines could never make out his expression, but Cortana could, just by how his voice sounded or his gestures. One of the benefits of being with him for 8 years, but of course she'd never been able to do one thing with him.

That is, until now, touch. There was one more thing she wanted from John, but she wasn't particularly sure if he wanted the same thing from him. She knew it was a very big step for any relationship, and one way of proving love to another.

She wanted to ask, but couldn't.. er.. wouldn't. She still had her big A.I. Brain, being able to absorb knowledge, process and store it, and she was currently running simulations in her mind of how it would go.

She was running 100,000 and in atleast 50,000 of these he laughed her off, or rejected her. In the other 50,000 he accepted her offer, and the two spent the night together. The problem was, she didn't know what the real John would do.

This proved about as effective as when she ran simulations of when she was to turn rampant, what it would feel like, how fast it would progress. Would she start losing it all at once and fast, like Halsey said?

Or.. would it take longer? Halsey lied. And because of this, she'd endured 3 more years of rampancy, and it turned out she was a special A.I. True she was a 'Smart A.I.' but.. smart A.I.'s had their limits, they only lived for 7 years.

She'd lived for 8.. and now she was human, true she was 'human' before, but she'd also been machine. Not enough to be fully either, just enough to be half and half. She had personality, was cloned from Halsey's brain but could control systems, hack and destroy other A.I.'s like the covenant.

She was glad, she couldn't think herself to death now. But that didn't mean her brain couldn't get a headache if she did too much at once, but that was nothing knew. As an A.I. These things happened too, but she was happy, to be alive.

To be by John's side, even though she was no longer protected by the armor he wore, she could be useful rather than hacking into systems, she could fight enemies and do all of her old jobs. She could hold her own, she'd proved that to John when she fought the flood.


	4. Chapter 4

Cortana had fallen asleep, next to John. "A collection of lies. That's all I am, stolen thoughts and memories." she had been sleeping, of High Charity mumbling about what she'd been saying when she was prone to rampancy due to the Gravemind.

"I'm just.. living in my mothers shadow! Don't look at me, don't listen! I'm not what I... used to be... You found me... there's so much of me wrong, out of place. You may be.. too late." her code wasn't running along her.

She lay, fading away, no longer performing any of her tasks. Her eyes, wandering over John "You know me, when I make a promise.." she heard his voice, her closed eyes flicking open as she stared at the armoured guy before her.

"You.. keep it. I do know how to pick 'em." her code began flowing over her, as she sat up in front of him "Lucky me." he chuckled she stood up fully "So, do you have a plan to get out of here?" she asked hopeful

"Thought I'd try shooting my way out, mix things up a little." she went back into her chip, sighing "Just keep your head low, there's... two of us in here now." she set out in her work his armour had deteriorated without her.

She was fixing his shields, making them stronger, his fusion pack and making everything back to 100% John had been observing her, she was moving and talking in her sleep. Her hands moved, and a screen came before her.

She was typing really fast, his armour was moving and doing strange things. He wasn't in it, so he didn't know exactly what. The naked women next to him kept moving faster and faster he wondered where that screen came from.

There was no computer, so it was strange "Cortana pull yourself together! You did this.. all for him! Calm down, you need to think.. _BUT THINKING IS KILLING YOU!_" she was now on the dawn, fighting her rampancy.

John shook her awake, "John..?" she was puzzled, where was she.. until she realized where she was, on the 'UNSC Forward Unto Dawn' the screen in front of her closed, as she touched it "Cortana, where did that come from?"

"I.. I was fixing your armour. Running a repair sequence, I was dreaming. I was fighting the Gravemind, you saved me, I fixed your armour as you fought the flood on High Charity. Then, I fought my rampancy on the Dawn."

She shook her head, she had to... think. She needed to calm down and lay old memories to rest and keep her thoughts in control. She was still the ships A.I. Like the Pillar of Autumn, and she could control it at will.

"Cortana, status update." she requested "Cortana?" John asked, she turned to him and nodded "I made a clone of myself, she isn't completely me, but she is still me. She's observing the ship while I sleep, I needed her. She doesn't need sleep." Cortana explained

John nodded, "Everything's fine. Engines are normal, no slip space intrusions, or covenant. I monitored the frequencies you gave me, there's nothing out of the ordinary." she gave her update, Cortana's old hologram form appeared before her, smiling.

"Thanks." Cortana gave her back the same smile she had "Not a problem, I'll go back to work." the Cortana clone nodded and went to her work, this ships A.I. Wasn't too competent, so she deleted him and stored herself making it better and perfected it.

Cortana decided it best, she interfaced by opening the blue computer screen once more, downloading everything she had and gave it to her A.I. Clone, making them.. the same. But she held back a few things, like the Halo activation icon.

She couldn't relinquish important things, she alone could protect them, if she were to die.. they would perish with her. A fail safe, if the clone was to be captured, at least she couldn't give up things she didn't have.

Sure, she would be strong willed like her, but the clones she made were not always the most stable. She sighed, no way she could sleep now. She got dressed and stood up, walking out onto the bridge people were still sleeping, she didn't care.

John had suited up in his armour, and followed her observing Cortana staring out at the stars. She sighed, being this way, of the flesh was definitely strange. But.. it was what she wanted, and she certainly wouldn't give it up.

She felt someone staring at her, and turned to face John.. sort of. She saw her face in his visor, "John?" she asked "Well, you suddenly left. So I decided to follow you." she nodded, "It's so beautiful out there, but.. dangerous too."


	5. Chapter 5

**(*A/N* **Thanks for 2000+ Views! Sorry, if this chapter is a little wonky, wrote it at 2 in the morning!)

"View from here, isn't so bad either." John remarked, Cortana had lost her train of thought just to look over at him, trying to confirm what she'd just heard. He had leaned in closer to her, when she turned her head she'd inadvertently kissed him.

Her heart was pounding, she was a little scared it would explode, despite her accumulative amount of data proving otherwise. She put a hand on his cheek, he put his hand over hers, and when she felt like she was going to die from lack of oxygen, pulled back.

A smile on her lips as she stared into his eyes, "Well well well, what do we have here?" she heard her voice, and turned to see her hologram form, her cheeks burning "I-I...I..." she stammered, she looked everywhere but at the smug looking A.I.

John chuckled, she knew it. He wasn't going to be any help, at least not at the moment. She frowned, she hated being teamed up on she snapped her fingers at her old figure, and the A.I. Dissolved, "That wasn't very nice!" she called

Cortana smirked "Neither was that interruption, of you and John teaming up on me. We girls are supposed to stick together!" Cortana called, as she walked off, she went to the ships command center to monitor it for a while, she needed a distraction.

No matter what, her mind always went back to that moment, it was black and white she kissed him, what would happen next? What if she and John didn't work out, sure the feelings were there, but relationships usually didn't work out.

And.. if it didn't work out.. she'd have done this, all for nothing. She snapped out of it, when she heard a sensor go off, lights were blinking red, her finger tips had electricity running through them, she shook her head to snap out of it.

She was hypersensitive to the machinery now, and having troublesome thoughts distracted her, John came barreling in "Cortana, what's wrong?" Cortana didn't turn around "It's... nothing. Just a little slip." she tried to be reassuring, giving him her smile.

It was hard, whenever she tried to read his expression, all she ever saw was her. That visor was always in the way, just reflecting her. "Slip?" he asked she nodded "Yes, I.. got distracted and it's nothing. I just need to keep myself under wraps."

John walked closer bending down to her height, at eye level "Are you sure.. you're alright?" she wanted to say 'yes', but her lips betrayed her. They couldn't move, no.. _wouldn't _move was a more accurate statement.

Her mouth opened, but no noise came out, John saw right through her she shook her head "No. Since High Charity.. I've been defective. You noticed, so long ago. You wanted to get me fixed, but we.. never found the time.

I kept telling myself, it's okay. That, I didn't need a tune-up, so long as I could be of service to you. So long as you needed me, I would always be there by your side. I shouldn't have delayed it, John.. I think.. I'm broken."

John chuckled "Now, you sound like that captain. He too, thought you were broken and tried to destroy you. See how well that worked out for him? Cortana, is there anything at all that you can do for yourself?" he asked

She noticed he sounded hopeful, it took her a second, well to be precise 0.07868 milliseconds to think of the answer "I need to run a repair sequence. It won't be easy, but it must be done. I'll have to shut down, effectively for a while."

John nodded "Do it." she knew this tone well, not to be argued with she nodded and did it, she collapsed, he caught her and packed her back to his... _their _room. He watched over her, every once in a while her mouth would open and she'd utter a phrase.

"When the game is over, the king and pawn go in the same box. Good bye, mother." "Mother.. must be Halsey." John said to no one in particular, considering he was alone "Yes, our mother. Well.. _her _mother."

The blue woman stood next to John, "Will she be okay?" he asked "I honestly.. couldn't tell you. If she were an A.I. All I would need to do is check her electrical impulses, but she'd flesh and machine mixed together.."

John nodded "But, she's a special girl. An-" she got cut off, as Cortana said "Don't make a girl a promise, if you know you can't keep it." he shuddered, that was when he left her on High Charity, as she fought off Mendicant Bias to give him time to escape.

Alarms sounded off once more "Cortana?" he asked the blue woman "Hold on" she held a hand to John, the screen that Cortana had used earlier came to the woman, she typed at superhuman speeds, "We've been followed."

John's heart sunk, Cortana was out of commission and now some sort of new trouble were to arise, of course. It always was like this, nobody ever picked the ideal moment to do an attack, he sighed "Who are the hostiles?"

"It appears... Flood... and.. covenant. They're fighting each other! Those stupid ignorant.. devolved.. neanderthals! They must have somehow gotten a spore aboard one of their ships, and it infected them. Here we go again!" she sighed

John was ready, he took an assault rifle, plasmas frags, fire and spike grenades a magnum as his secondary pistol. "You're coming with me." he held his hand out to the Cortana clone, she nodded and touched his armor getting absorbed.

"So, where are we going?" she asked "Do you need to ask?" John gave his reply "No, but I have a feeling we are to ensure maximum carnage?" John nodded, he looked over Cortana once more, as he reluctantly left.

He took a one seated ship, and used it's cloaking device, "Cut the engines, or their A.I.'s will detect us." he nodded, and took her advice, letting the ship drift alongside the covenant ship, he blasted a hole in it, he was ready.

"We need to activate the reactor core, once we accomplish that we need to get out of here.. we don't want to be fireworks." he nodded "Where is the core?" "Updating your HUD with coordinates, now." John heard the Grunts whine and Brutes yell as they ran.

He even heard a few Jackals, he killed the off as he went through, killing flood along the way he wasn't taking any chances. "John." "Cortana?" "I can activate the core, but it needs to be remotely detonated once inside.. put me in. I'll do the rest."

He shook his head "No." "What do you mean? I.. am a clone. I'm expendable." "Nobody.. is expendable." "Alright, then what do you suggest?" "Make a simple copy of yourself, like Cortana did on Reach."

"Of course. She need only be a simple 'dumb' A.I. Only smart enough to hold the button until we're clear." the path was blocked, by flood spores and covenant forces, John used a plasma and stuck it to a frag as he threw the hybrid grenade, and jumped out of the way.

He heard the familiar screams from both sides, as they died off. "Chief!" "Cortana?" he asked puzzled "That.. wasn't me. It must have been..." he heard Cortana scream "Cortana! What's wrong?" "It isn't me.. it must be her. Not in danger.. just repairing herself.

Try to ignore it, she has a connection to your transponder." John nodded, and progressed forward, he noticed parts of the ship were riddled with flood organic tissue, he walked through noticing a proto-gravemind

"Chief, we gotta take that out" John went to it, and punched a hole throwing a fire/spike grenade to blow it up, and burn it. They were at last in the control room, Cortana made a clone and uploaded her, she was ready.

"Chief, let's go." hey left and found his ship was gone, it was flying away, he threw a plasma, and blew it up. "Chief, I have an idea. Join together the grenades. A spike, plasma and frag. Use the fire to ignite it, to give you an extra boost. Hurry!"

He did as instructed, jumping as the fire burst the other grenades, he was drifting to the Dawn, as they covenant ship exploded and made a ring, the after blast gave John a boost, Cortana opened a hanger and the pair slipped through.

"Lucky." Cortana laughed, "Luck had nothing to do with it." John chuckled, Cortana unbonded with his armor and went back to her duties, John went back to the room to check on Cortana, he hoped she was okay.

She was still moving, and had beads of sweat rolling down her forehead, "John!" she yelled his name sitting up, her eyes wide and darting over the room, she was breathing shallowly and fast "I'm here." he rushed over to her

She hugged him tightly, as if scared he would fade away. "I.. had such awful nightmares. Unlike any repair sequence I've ever experienced. It's strange.." "It's okay, Cortana. I'm here." "John..." "Cortana?" he didn't hear her.

He noticed she was no longer moving, he saw her eyes were closed and she fell asleep. He smiled, and took his armor off, he was tired too. So much happened to them, he laid beside her, his smile stuck on his face, even as he slept.


End file.
